Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges

XI CHAPTER CELEBRATIONS

thons where participants raised money for the United Negro Col- lege Fund by obtaining sponsors to donate based on the number of hours danced. Guide Right The chapter, throughout its exis- tence, supported Guide Right, such as tutorial programs with local schools. During its Guide Right weeks, the chapter organized essay contests with prizes and underwrote scholarship awards to fellow HU students. In more recent decades, Xi members volun- teered at local homeless shelters. Theta Tau In 1976, Howard University became the only college campus to sponsor two chapters of the Fraternity with the chartering of Theta Tau of Kappa Alpha Psi. Theta Tau differs from Xi as it is categorized as an immediate chapter. Membership is strictly restricted to students with an undergraduate degree from any institution pursuing a post- graduate degree at Howard University.

rel Wreath Award and the Elder Watson Diggs Award, Grand Polemarch Greene earned HU's most prestigious award, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement. He served on the HU Board of Trustees from 1969 to 1973. HU bestowed an honorary doctor of humanities to Greene in 1983, the same year he passed. Over 2,500 people attended the Grand Polemarch's funeral services held at Rankin Memo- rial Chapel, with current Xi members serving as pallbearers. The on-campus football stadium is named W. H. Greene Stadium. Distinguished Alumni Award In addition to Past Grand Polemarch Greene, HU has bestowed its Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgradu- ate Achievement to 18 other Xi initi- ates. Established in 1943 and the most prestigious award from HU, “the Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement honors alumni who have made valuable contributions in their respective fields.” Other award recipients include the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, 15th Laurel Wreath Laureate George E.C. Hayes, famed associate Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, renowned authors Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison.

Casino and the Lincoln Colonnade. In the 1930s and 1940s, big band leaders such as Jimmy Lunceford and Lionel Hampton headlined these events. • Black and White Formal: Annually, Xi Chapter hosted a formal dance at various venues until different names such as Sweetheart Ball and Silhouette Ball, where the chapter's queen and her court were honored guests. Following the procession and crowning of the queen, Xi members gather and serenade the queen with the Sweetheart Song. • Scroller Sweetheart Coronation Ball was a popular campus event where the Scroller Club presented its queen and her court. • Kappa Kaberet was an annual social event sponsored by Xi Chapter and held in various locations in DC where patrons would attend with their alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. • Kappa Kruise was an annual boat ride on the Potomac River that originated in the 1930s and remain an event into the early 1980s.

William Henry Greene, M.D. "Stud Greene"

is synonymous with Howard University, Kappa Alpha Psi, and Xi Chapter. Dr. Wil- liam Henry "Stud" Greene, the 15th Grand Polemarch of

Chapter Plot During the 1984 Howard Univer-

sity Homecoming, Xi Chapter hosted a chapter reunion that included a ground- breaking ceremony to kick off a fund- raising initiative to install a permanent marker honoring the chapter located in front of the Founders library. The ceremony's highlight was the attendance of Dr. Webster Sewell, Sr. (Xi 1921) - the last remaining Xi charter line initiate and, in 1984, its oldest surviving mem- ber. Also in attendance was James T. “Biff” Carter Jr. (Xi 1948), the 30th El- der Watson Diggs Awardee, Grand Board of Director Member Timothy Brown (Xi 1982), and James M. Diggs (Xi 1982), the Xi Chapter Polemarch, among other notable Chapter Brothers.

Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., gradu- ated from Howard University in 1920, where he starred on the Bison football team. He was initiated into the Frater- nity via the Xi in 1923 while attending the Howard University Medical School, graduating the following year. Greene practiced medicine in Washington, DC, starting in the mid-1920s and retired in 1971. He was renowned for his stead- fast support and leadership of his alma mater and fraternity and was the first to donate $1 million to Howard University. In addition to receiving the fraterni- ty's two most coveted awards, the Lau-

• The chapter hosted on-campus

seminars, sponsored recitals featur- ing professional concert singers, and organized theatrical plays.

• In the early 1980s, Xi Chapter sponsored 24-hour dance mara-

THE JOURNAL ♦ WINTER 2021 - SPRING 2022

PUBLISHING ACHIEVEMENT IN EVERY FIELD OF HUMAN ENDEAVOR

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